Charity work

Working for a charity can be one of the most rewarding jobs you can have. There are many charities around so you can always find something related to a subject matter you have a passion about. For some people, they want to make a difference with young people and children where as others may feel drawn towards animal welfare. Whatever interests you, the rewards are often much the same. Many charity jobs are actually reasonably well paid although you may be required to do a certain amount of voluntary work prior to applying for a paid job. If you are looking for job satisfaction, then you should definitely consider charity work. You can also pick up some great skills that can easily be transferred between jobs, helping you towards your future career.

If you have recently qualified at university or college then you may find it useful to do six months plus of charity work to gain experience.

 

 

 

Increasing your prices when self employed

If you are self employed it is easy to forget to put your prices up. When you consider how much prices tend to increase over a set period, then it makes sense that you also should be doing the same. The average salary usually increases by about 2 -3 % a year to keep in line with inflation but as a self employed person, you need to make sure that you do this to keep your profit up as your expenses become higher.

Making clients aware of a price increase should be done well in advance. Explain to them why this is necessary, such as an increase in the price of materials so therefore you need to increase your sales rate, or even the fact that you are now having to put in more hours than previous as the jobs they require have become harder to do. This is often the case when working for a growing company.

 

 

Recruitment process

If you are looking for new members of staff to join your company then you will have to go through a recruiting process. Not all companies use the same methods for recruiting staff. Some choose to advertise it themselves and carry out the recruiting process in house where as others chose to outsource the recruiting to an agency. Obviously it is more costly using a recruitment agency but it can take a lot of the stress out of the process and can save time of other staff members in terms of interviewing etc.

Most recruitment agencies will vet all applicants first and even conduct a mini interview over the phone to see if they are suitable. If they feel they are, they will then contact their client and ask if they would like to invite them in for an interview.

There is no right or wrong process for job advertising it is all down to how much you want to spend and how much time you have to deal with it.

Going for a promotion

If an internal job vacancies has come up that you wish to go for then you need to ensure that you are fully prepared for an interview. Many companies advertise jobs internal prior to advertising to the public so if you are looking to move up the ladder within the business, then this could be a great opportunity.

Firstly you need to consider if you have all the qualifications and / or experience that they require. If not, it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t apply but you will need to give them confidence that you can carry out the required tasks.

Hopefully you will have proved yourself in your current position, as employers will use this as a major factor in deciding if they offer you the job. Making sure you are on time, complete work to a high standard and offer to go the extra mile when needed will look great to any employer.

Working part time

If you are looking for part time work or maybe returning to work part time following a change of circumstances, such as having a baby, then you may find quite a lot of differences than working full time. Sometimes it can be hard to progress in a part time job as you may feel that you simply do not have enough time to put in to the job and some staff even feel that managers will not give them as much responsibility.

If you have tasks assigned to you that need to be completed on a daily or weekly basis in a part time role, then it is vital that you plan ahead and manage your time well. If you feel you have too much work to do in the time you are there then you could either speak to your manager about sharing some of the workload out to others or ideally, ask if you can have a few extra hours to fit it in.

Taking a promotion with no pay rise

When many people hear the word promotion, they instantly think of pay rise, but this isn’t always the case. Many employers will offer a member of staff a promotion in terms of more responsibility or moving to another department but without offering an instant pay rise. Often the employer will put the employee on a trial period for 3 or 6 months and then evaluate their performance after this time period. If the employee has worked well, then often a pay rise is offered.

Even if you are offered a promotion with no option of a pay rise it still may be worth taking it as it will give you more experience and if in 6 -12 months’ time you have proved yourself, you have a good case to ask for more money.

Experience can be vital when looking to progress up the career ladder, so that in itself can add a lot of value to your future career prospects.

 

Recruiting school leavers

When a company looks to take on a new member of staff, they may have a number of school leavers apply for the position. If the position requires little or no experience and full training is offered, then this will attract many young people looking to work straight after completing school.

Some employers are reluctant to employ school leavers, thinking that they may be unreliable and take up too much time training as they are not used to the work environment, but this is often far from the case. Many young people who leave school to work want to find themselves a career and will put 110% in to any job they do. They often just need a chance to prove themselves and once they are within the company, quickly pick up the working life routines.

The advantage of employing someone fresh out of school is that you can train them up on a job in a way that you want to and do not have to worry about bad habits they may have picked up at previous employment placements.

Going it alone in employment

Following the recession, many people were struggling to find employment and decided to go down the self-employment route. This allowed some people to return to work and be their own boss allowing them to start earning a wage again. Prior to this, many people may not have taken the plunge in to the self-employment world due to risks involved in leaving a guaranteed wage to go it alone.

Self-employment, although hard work can be extremely rewarding and works very well for people that need the flexibility to pick and choose their hours to an extent, such as a mother or father returning part time to work following the birth of a child.

The trick to self-employment is organisation and commitment. You need to be organised with your paper work and appointments and be sure that you commit you “work time” to working not getting distracted with other things you may want to do.

Employment Laws – Know your rights

Employment laws have been around for many years now and some are specific to employees and others to employers. If you are an employee or an employer you should be aware of the laws that affect you and your business (if applicable).

If an employee feels that they are not being treated fairly at work or that they are having to work in surroundings that are not fit then they should first approach their employer. Ideally this should be done in writing and records kept of all communication. In many incidences this is all it takes to sort out an issue, but should you not be satisfied with the outcome then is advice you can seek about how to take things further.

ACAS is a company that specialises on employment rights, they give free and impartial advice and if they cannot help you they will put you in touch with the right people who can.

Equality at work

The Equality act which came into enforcement in October 2010 was set out to help protect people at work and in the public domain from harassment, discrimination and victimisation due to their gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity or religion.

The basic premise of the act in a work scenario is to ensure that all employees are treated equally and do not suffer any acts of discrimination in the workplace.

It seems such a basic human right however everyday people are in situations at work where they are subject to inequalities in pay, harassment because they are the only female in the office or passed up for promotion due to something as ridiculous as the colour of their skin.

All of these things are completely unacceptable and the bringing in of this act is helping to give the rights back to employees who feel that they are being mistreated in the work place.

If you have an issue at work that you’d like some free un-bias advice on then you can contact ACAS, a government led helpline who can assess your case and offer advice on your situation.